The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) has identified 126 suspected Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs) following an international operation that used artificial intelligence to analyse visual content published online by jihadist groups.

The operation, known as Operation Shams II, was coordinated by INTERPOL and conducted from June 1 to 5, 2026, in Tunis, Tunisia. It brought together 28 specialised law enforcement officers and experts from 11 countries.

During the five-day operation, investigators extracted 108,076 facial images from visual material published by jihadist groups on online platforms.

INTERPOL said programmed AI agents and advanced AI-generated scripts were used to automate parts of the data collection and investigative process. The technology helped investigators remove duplicate images and conduct quality checks, reducing the dataset to 6,362 unique, high-quality facial images for processing through INTERPOL’s Facial Recognition System.

The organisation said the use of artificial intelligence did not replace human review. AI-generated results were examined and verified by trained officers and analysts in line with INTERPOL’s Rules on the Processing of Data.

According to INTERPOL, 126 Foreign Terrorist Fighters have so far been identified from the images processed during the operation. The intelligence gathered from the matches is being integrated into INTERPOL’s global databases to strengthen existing information on suspects, including potential locations and social networks, and support efforts to detect and disrupt terrorist movements.

The operation also involved additional intelligence supplied by INTERPOL’s National Central Bureau in Baghdad, Iraq, which provided hundreds of further images related to terrorism suspects for extraction and processing.

INTERPOL said investigative leads generated during the operation are already supporting judicial procedures in participating countries, including a case involving two suspected Foreign Terrorist Fighters who are currently detained.

However, the investigation is continuing. The organisation said thousands of additional images remain to be processed and could generate further investigative leads.

Operation Shams II also included efforts to trace terrorist financing. Investigators used cryptocurrency-tracing tools to follow suspected illicit financial flows, resulting in three urgent requests to a virtual asset service provider for customer information.

The participating countries also held discussions with representatives of the online gaming industry on concerns surrounding youth radicalisation in digital environments and ways to improve information sharing.

The 11 participating countries were Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Iraq, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Qatar, Tajikistan, Tunisia and Uzbekistan.

INTERPOL said Operation Shams II was conducted under the CT TECH+ Project, funded by the European Union’s Foreign Policy Instruments and supported by the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism.

The operation demonstrates the growing use of AI-assisted tools in international law-enforcement investigations, while INTERPOL said human officers remain responsible for reviewing and verifying the technology-generated results.